Joss Stone

In 2004, Stone dated Beau Dozier, with whom she co-wrote the song “Spoiled”. Dozier is the son of Motown producer Lamont Dozier, but the two split up in November of the following year.

In 2011, police arrested two men near her home, for plotting to rob and murder her. After a trial at Exeter Crown Court, they were found guilty and convicted.

Stone was born Jocelyn Eve Stoker on April 11, 1987 at Buckland Hospital in Dover, Kent, England, to Wendy and Richard Stoker, who owns a fruit and nut import/export business as the third of four children.

She attended Uffculme Comprehensive School in Uffculme, Devon, where she made her first public appearance, and left school at age sixteen with only three GCSE qualifications because she was dyslexic.

She grew up listening to a wide variety of music including American R&B and soul music performed by such artists as Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin, and she developed a soulful style of singing.

At thirteen, Stone auditioned for the BBC Television talent show, Star for a Night in London. She sang Donna Summer’s, On the Radio, for the broadcast, and eventually won the contest.

The London-based producers Andy Dean and Ben Wolfe of the Boilerhouse Boys, her heard her at a charity show, and recommended her to S-Curve Records founder and CEO, Steve Greenberg in December 2001.

She was flown to New York, and in the audition sang classic soul songs of Otis Redding, Gladys Knight and Aretha Franklin’s, and was instantly signed by Greenberg to his label in 2002.

Her debut album, The Soul Sessions, released in 2003, was produced by Steve Greenberg, Mike Mangini and Betty Wright, and consists of little-known soul tracks by Aretha Franklin, Laura Lee, Bettye Swann and others.

Her second album, Mind Body & Soul, was released in 2004. Its singles such as, You Had Me, Right to Be Wrong, Spoiled, and Don’t Cha Wanna Ride, became huge hits.

Stone’s debut album, The Soul Sessions, reached the top five on the UK Albums Chart and eventually went triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry and gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Her 2004 album, Mind Body & Soul, debuted at number one in Britain making her the youngest female to top the UK Albums Chart, and the album was certified triple platinum by the BPI.

Stone’s album, Joss Stone, earned for her the HUMO’s Pop Poll de Luxe Award for Best International Female Singer, and two Brit Awards in the British Female Solo Artist and British Urban Act categories.